The purposes of this study were to understand and compare the Competence of nurses at each level on the clinical ladder and factors associated with it. The sample of this study included 304 nurses from all levels of the clinical ladder selected by stratified random sampling between January and April 2004 in a teaching hospital. Using actor analysis with varimax rotation method, the instrument measuring clinical nursing competence included four factors, namely, clinical nursing care, teaching and consulting, planning and evaluation, and nursing research. Each question was measured on the Likert 10-point scale. The lent-retest reliability of the instruments measured by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was .81 The results showed that: 1) the average score of total nursing clinical competence was 7.46. The highest score was lot clinical nursing care competence (7.93). followed by planning and evaluation competence (7.66), teaching and consulting competence (6.95). and nursing research competence (6.83). 2) There were significant differences in scores for the four competences between nurses of different levels on the clinical ladders (F=8.62~47.42. p<.001). The assistant head nurse (AHN) had significant higher scores in teaching and consultant competence and total average of the nursing clinical competence. 3) Age, working experiences. core-coarse training attendance, and symposium attendance were positively correlated with the four competences (r=.13~45, p<.05 & .01). In conclusions, the results of this study provided references for nursing care and in-service training Plant in clinical practice.
The purposes of this study were to understand and compare the Competence of nurses at each level on the clinical ladder and factors associated with it. The sample of this study included 304 nurses from all levels of the clinical ladder selected by stratified random sampling between January and April 2004 in a teaching hospital. Using actor analysis with varimax rotation method, the instrument measuring clinical nursing competence included four factors, namely, clinical nursing care, teaching and consulting, planning and evaluation, and nursing research. Each question was measured on the Likert 10-point scale. The lent-retest reliability of the instruments measured by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was .81 The results showed that: 1) the average score of total nursing clinical competence was 7.46. The highest score was lot clinical nursing care competence (7.93). followed by planning and evaluation competence (7.66), teaching and consulting competence (6.95). and nursing research competence (6.83). 2) There were significant differences in scores for the four competences between nurses of different levels on the clinical ladders (F=8.62~47.42. p<.001). The assistant head nurse (AHN) had significant higher scores in teaching and consultant competence and total average of the nursing clinical competence. 3) Age, working experiences. core-coarse training attendance, and symposium attendance were positively correlated with the four competences (r=.13~45, p<.05 & .01). In conclusions, the results of this study provided references for nursing care and in-service training Plant in clinical practice.